Oracle will increase workforce in Oregon: Washington County Roundup

Oracle Corp. said Tuesday that it will shift 130 manufacturing and assembly jobs to Oregon from Mexico, and will retain 300 others that had been at risk of moving south.

In return, the company won state incentives worth about $1.4 million. The incentives come in the form of forgivable loans, which turn into grants provided Oracle meets job growth and salary benchmarks.

Seventy-eight of the jobs must pay at least 150 percent of the state's average wage for Oracle to qualify for the incentives. So those new jobs must pay a little more than $60,000 a year.

"That's further proof that Oregon is competitive in the global economy," Gov. John Kitzhaber said at a news conference at Oracle's Hillsboro site.

The governor drew $750,000 from a strategic reserve fund to make a forgivable loan to the company. The state will provide another $649,000 to Oracle through a newly created business retention fund, the same pool of incentives that Oregon used to attract hundreds of Salesforce.com jobs last fall.

California-based Oracle has four facilities in Oregon, including two in Hillsboro. Sun Microsystems built the facility now slated for expansion in 2000, at the height of the dot-com boom, and Oracle acquired it when it bought Sun three years ago.

In other news around Washington County: LAWSUIT AGAINST COUNTY: Washington County counsel opened its defense Tuesday in the lawsuit filed by Leonard Salanitro, shot by a sheriff's deputy in 2010, telling jurors that the case was about consequences.

When deputies Patrick Altiere and James Wheaton arrived Sept. 21, 2010, at the Aloha home of Dale Fortune with probable cause to arrest him for kicking his neighbor's truck, a melee unfolded in Fortune's living room that ended with his houseguest, Salanitro, taking a bullet.

County counsel Christopher Gilmore told jurors in Portland's U.S. District Court that was the consequence Salanitro faced for attacking Altiere -- delivering a crushing blow to the back of the deputy's head and then wrapping his hands around Altiere's neck.

"What is in dispute," Gilmore said in opening statements, "is whether (Salanitro) went into the living room and attacked Deputy Altiere."

TAX EXEMPTION: A property tax exemption for non-profits that build affordable housing in Washington County took a step forward Tuesday.

The Washington County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to have staff draft a formal ordinance for the exemption, which the board will likely vote on at some point this winter or spring. Under an emergency clause, the ordinance would take effect immediately after being signed or at a date specified by the board.

The unanimous support for consideration was in stark contrast to a Hillsboro City Council meeting earlier this month at which councilors said the exemption would hit the city's general fund and urban renewal district too hard. Hillsboro's 2,195 affordable housing units are the most in Washington County, and the city estimates it would forego about $43,000 in property taxes under the exemption.

The county has a significant, though slightly lesser investment, with about $40,000 in property taxes on the line. The county would be exempting affordable housing properties in unincorporated areas.

HILLSBORO CITY PLANNING: Hillsboro's City Council and Planning Commission held a joint work session on Tuesday to hear an update on the expensive and extensive transportation projects city staff say are necessary before work may begin in South Hillsboro.

The city and developers hope to break ground next year in the planned community, but work remains in pinning down the financial particulars needed to build new roads and extend or realign others in the 1,400 acre region..

"It's not something that we want to race through because it has huge implications," Don Odermott, Transportation Planning Engineer, said.

But time is of the essence, as concurrent planning efforts to improve livability and congestion along Tualatin Valley Highway wrap up in coming months.

The city's transportation planning effort is part of a slew of multi-agency studies finishing at roughly the same time. The Tualatin Valley Highway Corridor Plan, the project to identify improvements to livability, congestion, and safety along an 8.5 mile stretch of roadway over the next 15 years, is wrapping up. The Aloha-Reedville Study is finishing too.

CAT ADOPTION TEAM: For the first time ever, Cat Adoption Team has run out of food to distribute at its monthly Cat Food Bank.

The Cat Food Bank, which is supported entirely through donations, has been providing free cat food to struggling cat owners since June 2008. Since then, the nonprofit has distributed more than 135,000 pounds of free food.

The Cat Food Bank also distributes cat food to three area senior centers and their Meals on Wheels programs.

The goal of the Cat Food Bank is to keep cats home with their families.

Each month, it distributes more than 2,500 pounds of free cat food. Clients typically receive about 7 1/2 pounds of dry food per cat, for up to four cats per household, and several cans of wet food each month.

But at its Feb. 10 distribution, the Cat Food Bank gave out 2,540 pounds of dry cat food and 1,244 cans of wet food, emptying all of the shelves. Some clients received less food than they otherwise would have.

On Saturday, March 2, the district is sponsoring an event called Soar With Your Dreams, an annual career conference at Pacific University that features a line-up of different professions that kids can learn about and explore hands on.

The conference is open to kids anywhere in grades 5 through 8. Cost is $15 for FGSD students, $25 for students outside the district, and scholarships are available on an as-needed basis.

"It's a great way to introduce students to a number of career opportunities and really get them thinking about the future," said district spokesperson Connie Potter.

The workshop, from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., is jam-packed with information sessions about professions all over the job market spectrum -- from computer engineering to cooking, from teaching to broadcast news reporting.